It is strange in particular that no mention is made of Parry and Lord’s oral-formulaic theory since after all, it is in Homeric scholarship that classicists have discussed the relation between orality and writing most insistently. W.’s central question is: how did Greeks of the time characterize the relation between the great authors of the past and their own efforts? Chapter 5 on Lucian (along with other sections scattered throughout the book) is, I think, the most penetratingly informative treatment of Lucianic discourse since Branham’s Unruly Eloquence, and his analyses of Dio (especially in Chapter 3) convey a far better understanding of that author’s technique, literary persona, and general slipperiness than any book-length study currently available. 1. Cambridge. Greeks and Romans had a love-HATE relationship ⁃ obviously Greeks were culturally superior (art, architecture, literature) and Greeks obviously came before Romans ⁃ but as of 146 BC Greeks became a part of Rome -- politically and militarily, inferior to Rome Oxford. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. From its infancy, Roman literature borrowed heavily from the Greeks. Extremely suggestive, but opaque, I think. The Greek language arose from the proto-Indo-European language; roughly two-thirds of its words can be derived from various reconstructions of the tongue. Ancient Greece and Rome are known for their poetry and stories that over the years have remained because of the themes that still strike in today’s modern day. Andreassi argues that he belongs to a school milieu, and that the fact that the grammatikos or scholastikos is regularly derided is to be understood as umorismo autodelatorio. Women’s contributions are regularly mentioned. Consuelo Ruiz-Montero’s introduction is brilliant. Straightforward performances of written poetry and prose, as well as more complex phenomena such as oracular encounters with the god became stone monuments which in turn gave rise to viewing, reading, discussion and exegesis as secondary oral events. Already the fact that the Alexander Romanceis known in different versions, places it in the realm of orally transmitted literature, and the selected episode belongs to the category of wonder stories. While Chapters 1 and 2 explore further the concepts brought up in the Introduction, meditating on secondariness, identity-formation, and education in Second Sophistic culture (via a selection of exemplary texts), Chapters 3-5 narrow the focus to individual articulations of Rome. In Chapter 1 (“Repetition: The Crisis of Posterity”) W. interrogates the notion of mimesis as a way of thinking about the relation of the Second Sophistic to the past. Here Steve Reece’s fundamental study of the general importance of mostly invisible scribes for Greek and Roman literature might have been helpful, but his book is probably too recent to have been used by Ruiz-Montero and her colleagues; my own study of the Homeric scribe has been accessible since 2011. BMCR provides the opportunity to comment on reviews in order to enhance scholarly communication. W. elegantly discusses Lucian’s metaphorical use of the hippocentaur to describe the novelty and hybridity of his dialogue-form, and shows how the novel’s preoccupations with nature and artifice point to its “self-conscious modernity” (78) via brief but insightful analyses of the nature-culture tensions in Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe and the commentary on identity formation implicit in Heliodorus’ Aethiopica.6. [Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]. Answer Save. She dwells on recurring characters such as the old woman or the old man as narrator, and reveals narrative patterns, type stories and common themes. With Consuelo Ruiz-Montero‘s chapter we enter the world of folklore. This contribution opens up wide perspectives. GREEK. It may be said that the "Law of the Twelve Tables," prepared about 450 B. c. and hung up in the Forum, was the first prose composition of importance. Roman literature 1. Núnez’ strength is her application of refined literary methodology to these ancient narratives, but since Apuleius writes in Latin her chapter does not really contribute to the common topic, Greek imperial literature. On the one hand, the author continuously asserts the role of paideia in maintaining and reflecting the social hierarchy as ‘natural’. W. provides a nice overview of the concept of paideia in Greek culture and its changing ideological charges over time, especially with reference to Rome’s own appropriation of Greek paideia. The three most famous Roman poets are Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. W.’s structuring of certain chapters by starting with a ‘straight’ author and concluding with a ‘self-conscious’ one only draws attention to this contrast. Finally, Chapter 5 (“Lucian: Satirizing Rome”) returns to more familiar shifting ground. She concentrates on Apollo’s sanctuary in Delphi where she exploits oral performance from many angles. Greek and Roman literature is wide and it includes: tragedies, comedies, poems, epics etc. Yet it remains important, not only because much of it is of supreme quality but also because until the mid-19th century the greater part of the literature of the Western… On the one hand, literary imitation is an attempt to assert continuity through the repetition of tradition, but at the same time this “necessarily enforces an awareness of difference and discontinuity.” (47) W. explores how this tension was variously resolved or exploited in a sort of ascending tricolon of texts: Plutarch’s How the Young Man Should Listen to Poetry, Longinus’ On the Sublime, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ fragmentary On Mimesis. Here W. is at his best — demonstrating with brief, insightful readings the complexity, relevance, and richness of his chosen texts, which by no means adhere to a unitary viewpoint. Cambridge) makes up part of Chapter 3, and “‘Greece is the world’: exile and identity in the Second Sophistic” (in S. Goldhill (ed.) If there is a Greek god, there will be a Roman counterpart. For Lucian, “culture is Greek and in Greek” (202), but it is as if this wonderful medium were beset on all sides by dangerous misuse. ×Your email address will not be published. Musonius, despite his position as a Roman writing in Greek, seeks to define himself as part of the Greek philosophical tradition, as a new, yet recognizable paradigm to be imitated (accomplished through an interesting engagement with the discourse of Athenian democracy and the figure of Socrates). The first translation of Greek classics into Roman was made by a Grecian slave who came to Romeabout 250 B.C.. Latin Literature in History Greek literature was one of the numerous Greek accomplishments from which Romans drew immense influence. FLIT 480: Greek and Roman Literature ... Anthon, Charles, A Manual of Greek Literature from the Earliest Authentic Periods to the Close of Byzantine Era (1853). Much of Roman literature was influenced and inspired by Greek literature. W. sees this as a result of Lucian’s constantly shifting self-positioning — sometimes being ‘Greek’, sometimes refusing to relinquish his outsider’s status — a fitting role for a satirist, and a fitting figure with which to conclude a chapter devoted to showing “just how provisional is paideia’s construction of identity.” (128). Routledge, is a serviceable survey, and B. Reardon (1971) Au courants littéraires grecs des IIe et IIIe siècles après J.-C. Paris, remains valuable, despite the omission of authors such as Dio and Plutarch. The Odyssey), Latin language, Latin literature (e.g. 6. Much of the analysis is concerned with purely literary topics, such as the use of Homer and Plato as hypotexts for storytelling. It is made up of four stages: archaic, classical, Hellenistic and Greco-Roman. 11. Bibliography on Greek and Roman Literature for class in FLIT 480: Greek and Roman Literature. For W., Plutarch tries to recoup mimesis from Plato’s damning treatment in the Republic and reasserts it as a socially useful practice for a culture of sophisticated readers and practitioners of literature. (2001) Being Greek Under Rome. One cannot enter either a library or bookstore without seeing Roman poetry and prose on the bookshelves; Cicero, Tacitus, Suetonius, as well as Virgil and Horace. On occasion, W.’s readings of texts do go well beyond the actual point he was trying to make (e.g., on the depiction of Musonius in Philostratus’ Nero 9), and the signposting is helpful. The book originates in an international conference held in Murcia in May 2014. Lucian lived in the age of the Second Sophistic, but does not easily fit into the characteristics of the movement, Mestre maintains. José-Antonio Fernández Delgado moves to the private sphere, analyzing Plutarch’s description of The Banquet of the Seven Sages. In particular, as he notes, his article “Reading power in Roman Greece: the paideia of Dio Chrysostom” (in Y.L. Literary texts themselves are thus the sites in which the ideas of paideia, mimesis, and ultimately Hellenic identity are worked through and ultimately defined. Expressions of thanks or praise should be sent directly to the reviewer, using the email address in the review. 1. 1. Convincingly, Mestre sees a connection between Lucian’s obsession with linguistic propriety and the fact that he was a not a native speaker of Greek. Greek literature One of the longest surviving traditions in world literature. The first major difference between Roman gods and Greek gods is the time period. In contrast, I felt that the next section, (“Paideia and Gender,”) was the weakest in the chapter. Homer: A Brief Bibliography of the Epic . Angelos Chaniotis: The Oral Transmission of Memory in the Greek Cities of the Imperial Period. On Salaried Posts deals with the issue of patronage and artistic independence within “the coercive structure of Roman domination.” While W., as usual, offers up insightful, original readings of these texts (working through the complicated framing devices of the Nigrinus, identifying the “spectacularization” of paideia as one of Lucian’s primary satiric targets, analyzing the “network of gazes” that disempower the pepaideumenos in On Salaried Posts (286)), the ostensible point of the chapter — Lucian’s relation to Rome — often gets lost in the shuffle. Dio, however, is more self-conscious about his place in a tradition which was “already knee-deep in exiles.” W. maps how Dio subtly negotiates this problem — how to assume the authoritative stance of the exile yet acknowledge the worn out nature of the topos — by managing to present his “self-dramatization as a Greek philosopher opposing Roman power” as the result of “a mixture of apparent accident and delightful sophistical ingenuity.” (164) Finally Favorinus, in a fascinating speech that has not received much attention previously, takes the exilic model to its logical extreme. Thesaurus Linguae Graecae - Greek and some English translation - this tool has "collected and digitized most literary texts written in Greek from Homer to the fall of Byzantium in AD 1453. The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature by Highet, Gilbert Pages can have notes/highlighting. How Did Mythology Influence Roman Mythology 1079 Words | 5 Pages . He emphasizes the lively tone of the dialogue, the close connection with the practice of rhetorical training, and the ethopoiia in the characterization of the speakers. Even though these texts “have only a precarious claim to be oral” (49), they offer much information about what was expected of a performance, what types of performance were most admired, and in general, the broad variety of occasions for oral performance. In Sale of Lives, for instance, Lucian derides the superficialization and commodification of philosophy, while Nigrinus is a meditation on Athens and Rome as opposite poles in the power and paideia relationship: Rome, the city of spectacle, wealth, commercialism has outstripped its teacher, Athens. Greeks under Roman rule locate their identity in the classical past of Greece. Again, Dio emerges as an intricately self-conscious manipulator of traditions and topoi, managing to have it both ways, both being a pedagogue to emperors and asserting his independence from their control. Ioannis M. Konstantakos: The Island that was a Fish: An Ancient Folktale in the Alexander Romance and in Other Texts of Late Antiquity. E.g., J.L. A great deal of the charm of this rich collection lies in the wide range of sources included: inscriptions of many kinds, papyri, literature—mainly novels, Plutarch, Pausanias, and Lucian—and material objects. Rome had a vibrant and accomplished literary culture, born from the established traditions of Ancient Greece. Bryn Mawr PA 19010. In her subtle analysis of Lucian, Francesca Mestre refers to a long list of this author’s works. Paradoxically enough, Chaniotis and Bowie between them demonstrate how writing on stone, this most sternly non-oral “performance”, offers many glimpses into the oral culture of the city states. Francesca Mestre: The Spoken Word, or the Prestige of Orality in Lucian. 9. Mimesis in Plutarch’s hands becomes the ethically proper mode in which a ‘secondary society’ maintains ties with tradition. Greek literature One of the longest surviving traditions in world literature. Perhaps this is a quibble, but should serve to emphasize that the real value of this book lies as much in the depth and range of W.’s readings as in its innovative theoretical foundation — and not in any easily quoted ‘conclusions’ about, for instance, the exile. C.H. Many people confuse Greek and Roman mythologies, particularly their gods, most of whom have direct counterparts in each other's culture. This is a territory seldom explored and extends to rarely read texts such as the Aesop Romance, The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice, and The Pumpkinification of the Emperor Claudius. But if paideia is necessary, then it is not ‘natural’ to the elite, and anyone could become educated, no matter what his birth or origin. Roman literature prior to the empire is reduced to religious myths that seek to explain the origin or legends of heroes. Roman literature was, from its very inception, heavily influenced by Greek authors. In fact, until recently, in Western culture, an acquaintance with classical Latin (as well as Greek) literature was basic to a liberal education. 1 decade ago. These works range from the oldest surviving written works in the Greek language until works from the fifth century AD. In a superb and learned study, Angelos Chaniotis writes about official memory in the Greek cities, drawing attention to the wealth of information provided by epigraphic material. The literature of ancient Greece was so important that it was preserved for millennia and helped form the basis of modern European culture. Initial notices of the book under review went under a similar name. 10. What are these contents? Favorinus’ construction of himself as “a generalizable emblem of all literary and social identity” (178) goes against every well-known platitude about the Second Sophistic — its unthinking reverence of the past, its lack of originality, its political quietism — and shows us, as W. reads Favorinus, “that the past does not determine the present, that the present writes the past, that one’s identity is created, rhetorically and strategically, in the here and now.” (177). “Paideia and Hellenism”, on the other hand, is an exemplary treatment of the transformative power of paideia as displayed by Favorinus and Lucian — both most likely non-native Greek speakers from the opposite ends of the Roman Empire (Arles, Samosata) who became ‘Greek’ through acculturation. To be sure, sophisticated literary studies of individual works, authors, and genres of the Imperial period have been appearing at an increasing rate (and W. has benefited from them, as he acknowledges) — one thinks of, among others, Goldhill on the novel, Branham on Lucian, Duff on Plutarch’s Lives, Porter on Pausanias, and the articles in the recent Being Greek Under Rome collection.2 But no study has tackled and made sense of the central features of Second Sophistic literary writing as a whole in a theoretically informed fashion: its sense of belatedness, its sophistication, and its notion of Hellenic identity, both in relation to the Greek past and to the Roman present.3 How should we think about and read these texts? Work differently in poetry and prose Oral performance in the review. ] differently in poetry and prose, in!, Mestre maintains said that the philosophical writings of Cicero influenced the Founding Fathers of the States. 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